#mariahuber

Molière “A música e a dança são duas artes que possuem um vínculo próximo.” #NelsonFreitas #Jairsoud #kristal #Mariahuber #amigos #noite #lisboeta #grupo #organização #estusiasmo #diversão #semespinhas #holanda #beja #anamoura (em Coliseu dos Recreios) https://www.instagram.com/p/B49G63bHyRn/?igshid=1hy40m66wokg

People magazine recently published their list of the Most Beautiful People. They named Lupita Nyong’o as the World’s Most Beautiful Person. When I saw this, it immediately reminded me of Mookie asking to see brothers on the wall.  It’s interesting because Lupita receiving this title is what Mookie was wanting.  I think that Lupita definitely deserves this title in her own right, but I also think that having a minority woman given this honor has greater implications than outer beauty.  After Monday’s class and discussing representational politics, Lupita being the face of beauty helps to define what beauty really is.  It broadens the spectrum of what we’re exposed to and what we’re expected to think of as beautiful.  Lupita probably wouldn’t have been on the list fifty years ago.  It reminds me of a study that was done where young girls were asked to pick one of two dolls to play with: one doll was White, the other Black.  All of the girls regardless of their own race chose the White doll, indicating that they don’t think of being Black as being beautiful or desirable.  Lupita being selected as the World’s Most Beautiful Person can help to change the falsity that is today’s beauty standard, thereby increasing our society’s acceptance of diversity.

This is the video of Seth Rogen’s testimony in support of increased funding for Alzheimer’s research that I brought up in class today.  His testimony is much more appropriate for the setting and context than Stephen Colbert’s.  Any viewer can clearly understand Rogen’s point of view and the goal he has for his testimony.  Rogen makes jokes, but the jokes are at his own expense and not at the expense of the issue of Alzheimer’s research.  Like Colbert, Rogen has community authority in his testimony because he is an established actor and comedian.  Unlike Colbert, Rogen is not known for commentating on political issues; however, it can be argued that to Rogen, the Alzheimer’s research funding is more personal than it is political.  Because he has a personal connection to the issue at hand, Rogen also acts as a proximate authority.  He has personal experience in observing his mother-in-law’s struggles, and he clearly has been personally effected by her life, which is why he came to testify in the first place.

One of my other classes today was ironically scheduled to meet with a transgender panel.  The information I received from the three panelists was extremely helpful and relatable to the topic we also discussed in C209 class.  The panelists fully agreed with Eliza Grey’s note about the discrimination that trans people face from the LGB community.  They said that many LGB people see trans people as actually lesbian, gay, or bisexual, but instead of coming out as such, trans people undergo gender reassignment surgery to change themselves in order to fit society’s mold.  The panelists also noted that sexual orientation and gender identity are much more different than people typically think. Trans people can also identify as LGB. When the term “LGBT” is used, it seems like someone must pick one of the letters, and that identifying with multiple letters is impossible.  Lastly, an important note from the panelists that was not discussed in Grey’s article was that we should view the transgender identity as a spectrum.  Some trans people know from birth that they were born in the wrong body, but it takes others a much longer time to come to the realization that they are trans.  Further, many trans people choose to be non-operational and do not undergo reassignment surgery but still receive hormone therapy.  Because of this, we should not always assume that someone who identifies as trans is not anatomically male or female.  There is much more flexibility than people like to think about, especially because it’s easier for society to fit people into categorical boxes.  The panel I attended definitely helped me to be more conscientious about other’s identities and know that the last think I would want is to be discriminated for who I truly am.

I found this IDS article that demonstrates the typical Indiana University student’s view of the large homeless population. We’re unfortunately taught to view the homeless people as infestations, loiterers, thefts, drunks, and many other worse things. The university keeps them as far away from campus as possible, decreasing the possibility of positive, stereotype-changing interactions. Before reading the handouts and hearing Sam speak about the unpopular, or at least unheard, opinion, I realized I too thought like the students in the article. I am thankful that I have become more aware of this issue and have already found myself telling my friends about the problems that real Bloomingtonians face. No one so far has heard of police slashing tents or sleeping bags, that the winter shelters are closing on April 1st, and even that there are such things as winter (as opposed to year-round) shelters. Overall I think that articles like this IDS one help to solve the problem simply by making people aware that an issue exists.